Daniel Desmond Sheehan, usually known as D. D. Sheehan (28 May 1873 – 28 November 1948) was an Irish
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
, politician,
labour leader, journalist,
barrister and author. He served as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...
representing
Mid-Cork from 1901 to 1918,
[Walker, Brian M. (ed.): ''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, Royal Irish Academy Press, Dublin (1978)] a
constituency comprising the districts of
Ahadallane,
Ballincollig
Ballincollig () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork city in Ireland. It is located on the western side of Cork city, beside the River Lee on the R608 regional road. In 2016 it was the largest town in County Cork, at wh ...
,
Ballyvourney
Ballyvourney ( ga, Baile Bhuirne , meaning 'Town of the Beloved', also spelled ) is a Gaeltacht village in southwest County Cork, Ireland. It is a civil parish in the barony of Muskerry West, and is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Ca ...
,
Blarney
Blarney () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork City in Ireland. It is located approximately north-west of the city centre. It is the site of Blarney Castle, home of the legendary Blarney Stone. Blarney is part of the Dáil ...
,
Coachford
Coachford () is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the north side of the River Lee. The village is located in the civil parish of Magourney. Coachford is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork North-West.
Coachford owes its n ...
,
Farran
Farran () is a village in County Cork, Ireland, in the parish of Ovens. It lies on the southside of the River Lee. Farran is west from Cork City on the N22 road.
The village has a primary school, creche and Montessori school, a church, comm ...
,
Inchigeelagh,
Macroom
Macroom (; ga, Maigh Chromtha) is a market town in County Cork, Ireland, located in the valley of the River Sullane, halfway between Cork city and Killarney. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of ...
,
Millstreet
Millstreet () is a town in north County Cork, Ireland, with a population of 1,555 (as of 2016).
Millstreet is within the civil parish of Drishane, and within a Poor Law Union also called Millstreet. The Millstreet Union encompasses the civil ...
and
Shandangan. As co-founder and President of the
Irish Land and Labour Association
The Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA) was a progressive movement founded in the early 1890s in Munster, Ireland, to organise and pursue political agitation for small tenant farmers' and rural labourers' rights. Its branches also spread into ...
, he was credited with considerable success in
land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
,
labour reforms and in rural
state housing
State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, most of which are owned by the ...
. From 1909, he was General Secretary of the Central Executive of the
All-for-Ireland League, favouring a policy of National reconciliation between all creeds and classes in Ireland. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he served as
Irish regiment
The Irish military diaspora refers to the many people of either Irish birth or extraction (see Irish diaspora) who have served in overseas military forces, regardless of rank, duration of service, or success.
Many overseas military units were p ...
s officer with the
16th (Irish) Division
The 16th (Irish) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, raised for service during World War I. The division was a voluntary 'Service' formation of Lord Kitchener's New Armies, created in Ireland from the ' National Volunteers' ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, 1915–16. He resigned his parliamentary seat in 1918 and lived in England for several years, returning to
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
following the ending of the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, when he was appointed editor of the ''Dublin Chronicle''.
Journalistic beginnings
Sheehan was born in
Dromtariffe, near
Kanturk
Kanturk () is a town in the north west of County Cork, Ireland. It is situated at the confluence of the Allua (Allow) and Dallow (Dalua) rivers, which stream further on as tributaries to the River Blackwater. It is about from Cork, Blarney and ...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...
, Ireland, the second eldest of three sons and one daughter of Daniel Sheehan senior and Ellen Sheehan (née Fitzgerald). His father was an old
Fenian
The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
, Kinsman of
Canon P. A. Sheehan and
tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
. He was educated at the local
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
; in 1880 when he was seven years old, the family experienced eviction from the family homestead at the onset of the
Irish Land League
The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farme ...
's
Land War
The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...
, when
tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
s united to protest against
landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...
s' excessive
unjust rents by
withholding payment.
Sheehan's family were supporters of the Fenian tradition, and his experience of discrimination made him a strong supporter of
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...
. Sheehan was a continued supporter of
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
after the 'Parnell split' of 1890 in the
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...
(IPP) and became a
pro-Parnellite. He always remembered his only meeting with Parnell at
Tralee
Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...
, when Parnell was presented with a loyal address (drafted by Sheehan) from his
Killarney
Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...
supporters.
[Maume, Patrick in: McGuire, James and Quinn, James (eds): ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' From the Earliest Times to the Year 2002; ]
Royal Irish Academy Vol. 8, Sheehan, D. D.: pp. 875–78; Cambridge University Press (2009)
He began his career as a schoolteacher at the age of 16, studying land law and legal procedure when time allowed. He undertook part-time journalism from 1890 and was otherwise
self-educated to a high literary degree. Sheehan was correspondent for the ''Kerry Sentinel'', and later special correspondent to the ''Cork Daily Herald'' in Killarney. After he married in 1894, he moved in pursuit of journalistic experience temporarily to
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
where in 1896 he joined the staff of the ''Glasgow Observer'', then becoming London editor of the ''Catholic News'' in
Preston, England.
In 1898, with the beginning of national
self-reliance
"Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false con ...
under the revolutionary
''Local Government Act (1898)'', which established the enfranchment of local electors and the creation of Local County Councils for the first time, allowing the development of a new political class capable of taking local affairs into their own hands, Sheehan returned to Ireland. He worked initially on various papers in
Munster including the ''
Cork Constitution
The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the ''Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lookin ...
'' and from 1899 until 1901 as editor of ''
The Southern Star'',
Skibbereen
Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The name "Skibbereen" (sometimes shortened to "Skibb") means "little boat harbour". The River Ilen runs through the town; it reac ...
, in which role it assured for the ILLA as well as the recently founded
United Irish League
The United Irish League (UIL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto ''"The Land for the People"''. Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform, compelling larger grazi ...
that their branch reports were given weekly press coverage, particularly crucial for the expansion and growth of the UIL in Cork.
Land and Labour leader
Early in his life when appointed correspondence secretary of the Kanturk Trade and Labour Council, Sheehan began active involvement in labour and trade union affairs – "I was engaged in an attempt to lead the labourers out of the poverty and misery that encompassed them" he wrote.
In August 1894 the
Irish Land and Labour Association
The Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA) was a progressive movement founded in the early 1890s in Munster, Ireland, to organise and pursue political agitation for small tenant farmers' and rural labourers' rights. Its branches also spread into ...
(ILLA) was formed to agitate on behalf of small tenant farmers and agrarian labourers as follower organisation to the Irish Democratic Trade and Labour Federation, setting forth
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt (25 March 184630 May 1906) was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his caree ...
's achievements. As ILLA chairman, Sheehan in alliance with its secretary the
Clonmel,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...
solicitor
J. J. O'Shee (Member of Parliament for
West Waterford from
1895
Events
January–March
* January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
* January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...
), they campaigned for radical changes both to the
Irish Land Acts
The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by ...
and the land and labour laws, in particular the granting of smallholdings to rural labourers. After Sheehan returned from a journalistic mission to England in 1898 he threw himself into organising the ILLA,
at the same time convinced that social change could only be advanced by means of political and constitutional agitation, but at no times through physical force.
In the towns and in the country, labourers had to live in hovels and mud-wall cabins which bred death and disease, huddled together in indiscriminate wretchedness, landless and starving, the last word in pitiful rags and bare bones. The grant of Local Government and the extension of the franchise, enabled the labourers to eventually take a mighty stride in the assertion of their independent claims. Sheehan recorded that
: ''"Those of us who had taken up the labourer’s cause . . . went our way building up branches, extending knowledge of the labourers' claims, educating these humble folk into a sense of their civic rights and citizen responsibilities . . . It was all desperate hard, uphill work, with little to encourage and no reward beyond the consciousness that one was reaching out a helping hand to the most neglected, despised and unregarded class in the community"''
Under his leadership as president, the ILLA spread rapidly across Munster and later
Connacht
Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...
, campaigning vigorously on behalf of small tenant farmers for their tenant rights as well claiming against the pitiful plight of the rural labourers, demanding sweeping changes, as
P. F. Johnson before him, to the inadequate Land Acts, duly acknowledged by government. By 1900 he had helped found and organize nearly one hundred ILLA branches, mostly in County Cork, County Tipperary, and
County Limerick
"Remember Limerick"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province
, subd ...
, which increased to 144 by 1904.
The achievement was not without considerable middle-class hostility to the labourer movement. Farmer, shopkeeper, clerical and political party hostility originated not alone locally, ill-will was equally noticeable at a national level. The Irish Party leadership refused to consider direct Parliamentary representation to the Land and Labour Association, an indication of the middle-class determination with maintaining its hold over national politics.
Member of Parliament
![D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/D._D._Sheehan_at_Newmarket%2C_1910.jpg)
Following the death of Dr C. K. D. Tanner (former Mid-Cork
anti-Parnellite Nationalist MP from
1895
Events
January–March
* January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
* January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...
), a
United Irish League
The United Irish League (UIL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto ''"The Land for the People"''. Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform, compelling larger grazi ...
selection convention was called for 10 May 1901 in
Macroom
Macroom (; ga, Maigh Chromtha) is a market town in County Cork, Ireland, located in the valley of the River Sullane, halfway between Cork city and Killarney. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of ...
to decide between three candidates for the up-coming by-election. Standing as ILLA candidate on a solely labour platform, "D. D.", as he was popularly known, defeated the official local
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...
(IPP) candidate Cornelelius O'Callaghan of
Millstreet
Millstreet () is a town in north County Cork, Ireland, with a population of 1,555 (as of 2016).
Millstreet is within the civil parish of Drishane, and within a Poor Law Union also called Millstreet. The Millstreet Union encompasses the civil ...
after a second ballot, amidst turbulent and occasionally violent scenes following an initial attempt by
Joseph Devlin
Joseph Devlin (13 February 1871 – 18 January 1934) was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons. Later Devlin was an MP and lead ...
(representing the UIL National Directory), to exclude a number of ILLA branches from the convention. Sheehan was carried triumphantly from the venue and when finally returned as MP in the
by-election of 17 May,
he wrote:
:''My heart was with the neglected labourer and I stood, accordingly, as a Labour candidate, my programme being the social elevation of the masses, employment and wages. . . . .
This was heralded as a tremendous triumph for the Labour movement, . . . . ''.
Aged twenty-eight, he was the youngest, and one of the most outspoken, Irish
nationalist party members of parliament at the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
. Although admitted to the Party, his position as a labour representative, his own personal independence and not being a member of the United Irish League, made him something of an outsider.
He wrote: "I was in the Party for one purpose, and one alone, of pushing the labourers' claims upon the notice of the leaders and of ventilating their grievances in the House of Commons whenever occasion offered" But from the outset in 1894, those Party leaders considered the ILLA to be a dangerous deviation from the party line.
Agrarian resurgence
![Land and Labour Call for Unity](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Land_and_Labour_Call_for_Unity.jpg)
Long associated with land agitation, Sheehan settled many disputes between
landlord gentry and their under-privileged
tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
s. In his capacity as honorary secretary of the Cork Advisory Committee, he was foremost in ending centuries of oppressive
"landlordism" under the far reaching
Wyndham Land Purchase Act of 1903. Crafted through Parliament following the 1902
Land Conference The Land Conference was a successful conciliatory negotiation held in the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland between 20 December 1902 and 4 January 1903. In a short period it produced a unanimously agreed report recommending an amiable solution to t ...
by his
Mallow compatriot,
William O'Brien
William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons o ...
MP, Sheehan successfully negotiated the larger number of the 16,159 tenant land purchases in Munster that decade. In his own words: ''"changing
rack-rented farmers into peasant proprietors"''. The act was later extended to introduce compulsory purchase under the ''
Birrell Land Purchase (Ireland) Act (1909)''.
From 1904 Sheehan was drawn to O’Brien for his willingness to agitate for a ''"settlement of the
Irish labourers' grievances"'', and allied himself after O’Brien was alienated from the Irish Party for his conciliatory approach in securing the Land Act. Sheehan brought O’Brien the ally whose organisational skills and social programme secured him a County Cork base, his talents and ILLA branches placed at the disposal of the O'Brienite organisation in rural Munster. Sheehan and O'Brien established a Cork Advisory Committee which produced a higher rate of land purchase at lower prices than in any other county.
The January
1906 general election returned Sheehan unopposed. The IPP deputy leader
John Dillon
John Dillon (4 September 1851 – 4 August 1927) was an Irish politician from Dublin, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. By political disposition Dillon was an a ...
set about splitting the ILLA, forming a new ILLA group under its secretary, the Dillon and IPP loyal
J. J. O'Shee (MP), – to confine Sheehan's movement, otherwise ''"the whole of Munster will be poisoned and no seat safe on vacancy"''. Later that year, the Irish Party mounted a feud against Sheehan for being a "
factionist" by supporting a policy of Conciliation and for not allowing his labourers' movement be subservient to the Party autocracy, his reason being ''"to realize the great democratic principle of the government of the people, by the people and for the people"''. Also for not adhering to the party pledge and expelled both him and
John O'Donnell from its ranks. It deprived them both of the quarterly party
stipend
A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work p ...
provided for attendance at Westminster, particularly damaging because the first regular salary for an MP was set in 1911. Sheehan retaliated by resigning his seat in November and challenged the IPP to stand against him. He was re-elected unopposed as Ireland's first
Independent Nationalist
Independent Nationalist ( ga, Náisiúnach Neamhspleách) is a political title frequently used by Irish nationalists when contesting elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Great Britain and Ireland not as members of the Irish ...
Labour MP on 31 December 1906. His income from then depended on constituent's collections at church gates on Sundays.
Sheehans' cottages
![Model Village Cottage, Tower Co](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Model_Village_Cottage%2C_Tower_Co._Cork.jpg)
At countrywide ILLA meetings and in leading articles and editorials, Sheehan strove vigorously to attain betterment for the working Irish as in his June 1904 Commons
speech on the Labourers (Ireland) Bill. Together with O'Brien under the "Macroom programme" their unabated pressure helped win passage of the exceptional
Bryce ''
Labourers (Ireland) Act (1906)'', remarkable its financial features for state sponsored rural housing, several provisions of which Sheehan suggested and drafted. He was convinced that nothing could be either final or satisfactory which did not ultimately
''"root the labourers in the soil"''.
The Act provided for the erection of over 40,000
cottages each on an acre of land, 7,560 alone in county Cork, known locally as ''Sheehans' cottages''. It was followed by the
Birrell ''Labourers (Ireland) Act (1911)'' with provision for further 5,000 dwellings. The dwellings provided homes for over 60,000 landless labourers and their families, comprising a rural population of a quarter of a million previously living wretchedly, mostly together with their livestock, in one room stone cabins and sod hovels.
Within a few years the resulting changes heralded an unprecedented
socio-economic
Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...
agrarian revolution in rural Ireland, with widespread decline of rampant
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
,
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...
and
scarlet fever.
A further important D. D. Sheehan landmark was his Model Irish Village scheme at Tower, near
Blarney
Blarney () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork City in Ireland. It is located approximately north-west of the city centre. It is the site of Blarney Castle, home of the legendary Blarney Stone. Blarney is part of the Dáil ...
. He initiated, organised and furthered the completion of this unique co-operative project, developed in unison with a prominent local land owner, the ILLA branch and the Cork
Rural District Council
Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...
, initially comprising 17 cottages, provided with all local amenities including school, laundry and community hall on which he reported:
:''The decay of village life in Ireland constitutes one of the most tragic chapters of our history for the past half century. .... But even if we cannot resurrect the spirit of our former village life it is, however, well within our power to reconstruct ...... a Model Village on up-to-date and practical lines – a village which we trust may become a pattern and an example to be copied with profit and advantage in other parts of Ireland''.
These achievements, won together with the local Land and Labour Associations, laid a solid foundation for the later successes of the
labour movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
in the province of Munster.
All-for-Ireland League
![D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/D._D._Sheehan_at_Ballina_1910.jpg)
By 1907 there were seven earlier Irish Party MPs outside of the party. Proposals to reunite the party were made by both O'Brien and the Irish Party leader
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) from ...
with a meeting summoned for the Mansion House, Dublin in April 1908. Sheehan, O'Brien and others rejoined the party temporarily for the sake of unity. However, when Redmond called a National Convention for February 1909 to discuss amended funding of the 1903 Land Purchase Act, it ended with O'Brien and Sheehan being again driven from the party at what became known as the
Baton Convention. It was ''"probably the stormiest meeting ever held by constitutional nationalists"''.
Subsequently, together with D. D. Sheehan as its organising honorary secretary, William O'Brien then inaugurated his new political movement, the
All-for-Ireland League (AFIL) in
Kanturk
Kanturk () is a town in the north west of County Cork, Ireland. It is situated at the confluence of the Allua (Allow) and Dallow (Dalua) rivers, which stream further on as tributaries to the River Blackwater. It is about from Cork, Blarney and ...
, March 1909. The League was a distinctively new political group whose deep conviction was that the success of a
United Ireland
United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...
parliament must depend on
Irish Home Rule
The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the e ...
being won with the consent rather than by the compulsion of the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
minority. The political slogan of the AFIL was "the Three C's" – for Conference, Conciliation and Consent as applied to
Irish politics, particularly to Home Rule. Sheehan rejected the Party leader Redmond's uncompromising "
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
will have to follow" approach to Home Rule. The political activist
Canon Sheehan of Doneraile was also a central AFIL founder member.
Prophetically farsighted, both Sheehan and O'Brien advocated granting Ulster every conceivable concession to overcome its fears of a
Catholic-dominated Dublin parliament, as otherwise an All-Ireland settlement would fail. The two Sheehans contributed regularly to the League's newspaper the ''
Cork Free Press
The ''Cork Free Press'' (11 June 1910 – 9 December 1916) was a nationalist newspaper in Ireland, which circulated primarily in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, and was the newspaper of the dissident All-for-Ireland League p ...
'', before it was suppressed in 1916 by the Chief Press Censor.
1910 general elections
In autumn 1909 a Divisional Conference of the Irish Party was summoned for the purpose of "organising" Sheehan out of Mid-Cork and taking over his constituency. But whenever their delegations made an appearance in Cork they were quickly put to rout by Sheehan's followers. Opposed by the official IPP+UIL+AOH nominee William Fallon in the 24 January
1910 general election, as well as denounced by Catholic clerics for ''pitting labourer against farmer'', he was returned with 2824 votes against 1999 for his opponent.
Sheehan later commented on the contest:
''I was left to fight my battle almost single handed, having arrayed against me two canons of my Church, and every Catholic clergyman in the constituency, with two or three notable exceptions. The odds seamed hopeless . . . . . . . but . . . I scored a surprising majority . ., and I have good reason for stating that 95 percent of the illiterate votes were cast in my favour, although a most powerful personal canvass was made of every vote in the constituency by the clergy.''
Throughout 1910 he turned to promoting the conciliatory and political principles of the All-for-Ireland League. The growth in strength of the AFIL in areas previously dominated by the UIL was accompanied by considerable conflict and hostilities. A renewed election was called on 28 November due to a parliamentary stalemate at Westminster. Sheehan campaigned for the AFIL's policies at large meetings across counties Cork and Limerick, in
Mayo Mayo often refers to:
* Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo"
* Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Mayo may also refer to:
Places
Antarctica
* Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land
Australia
* Division of Mayo, an Aust ...
together with O'Brien – coming under revolver fire at
Crossmolina
Crossmolina is a town in the Barony of Tyrawley in County Mayo, Ireland, as well as the name of the parish in which Crossmolina is situated. The town sits on the River Deel near the northern shore of Lough Conn. Crossmolina is about west o ...
– their party generally handicapped by lack of clerical support. In the
December 1910 election he retained his seat with 2738 votes against 2115 for his IPP opponent T. Corcoran.
The AFIL Party returned eight MPs in the nine Cork constituencies.
At election times broadsheets and ballads sung to popular airs extolling the candidates' merits were commonplace, one such entitled
''The Ballad of D. D. Sheehan'' made the rounds in 1910, was re-published in 1968.
Barrister-at-law
While in parliament he was called to the Irish
Law Bar as
barrister on 3 July 1911, having been exhibitioner and prizeman in law
University College Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one ...
(1908–09) and honoursman
King's Inns Dublin (1910), practising on the Munster circuit.
Dominion Home Rule
In 1911 the All-for-Ireland Party specifically proposed
Dominion Home Rule in a letter to Prime Minister
Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...
as the wisest of all solutions for Ireland.
During 1913–1914, Sheehan was active in promoting an
Imperial Federation League having as its immediate object a
federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
settlement of the Home Rule question as the alternative to Ulster's threat of partition. He later became vice-chairman of the League.
In January 1914 he published specific
proposals and concessions the AFIL perceived acceptable to Ulster to enable them to come in on an All-Ireland Home Rule settlement, which however the Irish Party and Dillon turned down with "no concessions to Ulster". Later in the Commons, Sir
Edward Carson
Edward Henry Carson, 1st Baron Carson, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire) (9 February 1854 – 22 October 1935), from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Unionism in Ireland, Irish u ...
, the
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...
leader, acknowledged that concessions proposed by the AFIL for Ulster to participate in Home Rule were praiseworthy, adding that had they been earlier supported rather than thwarted by the Irish Parliamentary Party, Ulster's objections might have been overcome.
In May 1914, the AFIL resolutely resisted the violation of
Ireland's national unity and as a final protest before history, abstained from voting on the amended
Third Home Rule Act
The Government of Ireland Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5 c. 90), also known as the Home Rule Act, and before enactment as the Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide home rule (self-governm ...
which provided for the temporary exclusion of
six Ulster counties in what the AFIL called would be an irreversible
partition deal.
Great War
![DD Sheenan in military uniform, circa 1918](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/DD_Sheenan_in_military_uniform%2C_circa_1918.png)
Armageddon
With the involvement of
Ireland in World War I when war was declared with Germany in August 1914, Sheehan gave support to
William O'Brien's call for voluntary enlistment in the
Irish regiment
The Irish military diaspora refers to the many people of either Irish birth or extraction (see Irish diaspora) who have served in overseas military forces, regardless of rank, duration of service, or success.
Many overseas military units were p ...
s of Kitchener's
New Service Army, regarding service to be both in the interest of
the Allied cause of a Europe free from oppression as well as in the interest of an All-Ireland Home Rule settlement.
In November, despite being aged 41 and father of a large family, he offered himself for enlistment, as did the
National Volunteers
The National Volunteers was the name taken by the majority of the Irish Volunteers that sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the movement split over the question of the Volunteers' role in World War I.
Origins
The Nati ...
and four other Irish nationalist MPs,
J. L. Esmonde,
Stephen Gwynn
Stephen Lucius Gwynn (13 February 1864 – 11 June 1950) was an Irish journalist, biographer, author, poet and Protestant Nationalist politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party he represented Galway city as its Member of Parliame ...
,
Willie Redmond
William Hoey Kearney Redmond (13 April 1861 – 7 June 1917) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP), was a lawyer and soldier Denman, Terence in: McGuire, James and Quinn, James (eds): ''Dictionary of Iris ...
and
William Redmond and former MP
Tom Kettle
Thomas Michael Kettle (9 February 1880 – 9 September 1916) was an Irish economist, journalist, barrister, writer, war poet, soldier and Home Rule politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for ...
. Trained at
Buttevant
Buttevant ( or ''Ecclesia Tumulorum'' in the Latin) is a medieval market town, incorporated by charter of Edward III, situated in North County Cork, Ireland.
While there may be reason to suggest that the town may occupy the site of an earlie ...
barracks County Cork, gazetted lieutenant, he practically raised the
9th (Service) Battalion of the
Royal Munster Fusiliers
The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company's Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Beng ...
, a regiment of the
16th (Irish) Division
The 16th (Irish) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, raised for service during World War I. The division was a voluntary 'Service' formation of Lord Kitchener's New Armies, created in Ireland from the ' National Volunteers' ...
. Due to manpower casualty shortages in other RMF regiments Sheehan was re-drafted on 30 May 1915 to the
2nd RMF (Regular) Battalion.
Three of his sons also joined. One, aged 16, was in 1915 the youngest commissioned officer on the
Western Front. Sheehan's two other sons were killed serving with the
Royal Flying Corps/
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
; his daughter, a
V A D front nurse, was disabled in a bombing raid. A brother serving with the
Irish Guards
("Who Shall Separate s")
, colors =
, identification_symbol_2 Saffron (pipes), identification_symbol_2_label = Tartan
, identification_symbol =
, identification_symbol_label = Tactical Recognition F ...
severely disabled and a brother-in-law killed at
Passchendaele.
In the spring and summer of 1915, Sheehan undertook the organisation and leadership of
voluntary enlistment campaigns in County Cork, County Limerick, and
County Clare
County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...
. Receiving
Captaincy and Company command in July 1915, he served with the 2nd RMF Battalion along the
Loos salient in France under Irish Major General
William Hickie
Major General Sir William Bernard Hickie, (21 May 1865 – 3 November 1950) was an Irish-born senior British Army officer and an Irish nationalist politician.
As a British Army officer Hickie saw active service in the Second Boer War from 1899 ...
. From early 1916, he contributed a series of
widely quoted articles from the
trenches
A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit).
In geology, trenches result from erosi ...
to the London ''
Daily Express'', the
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
, and the
Cork Constitution
The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the ''Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lookin ...
.
Deafness by
shellfire and
ill-health necessitated his transfer to the
3rd RMF (Reserve) Battalion at
Aghada
Aghada () is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is situated on the eastern side of Cork Harbour, around 12 km by road south of Midleton.
Aghada is also the parish name for the area. The civil parish of Aghada consists of several small vill ...
, then
Ballincollig
Ballincollig () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork city in Ireland. It is located on the western side of Cork city, beside the River Lee on the R608 regional road. In 2016 it was the largest town in County Cork, at wh ...
barracks, Co. Cork. Hospitalised often, he was decommissioned late 1917, with a bulletin stating that he "relinquished his commission on account of ill-health contracted on active service, and is granted the permanent honorary rank of Captain, 13 Jan.1918". Sheehan was awarded the World War I campaign medals:
1914–15 Star,
British War Medal
The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in si ...
,
Victory Medal and
Silver War Badge
The Silver War Badge was issued in the United Kingdom and the British Empire to service personnel who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness from military service in World War I.
History
The badge, sometimes known as the "Disc ...
.
Those Irish who died in the war are commemorated at the
Island of Ireland Peace Park
The Island of Ireland Peace Park and its surrounding park ( ga, Páirc Síochána d'Oileán na hÉireann), also called the Irish Peace Park or Irish Peace Tower in Messines, near Ypres in Flanders, Belgium, is a war memorial to the soldiers of ...
,
Messines,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and the
Irish National War Memorial Gardens
The Irish National War Memorial Gardens ( ga, Gairdíní Náisiúnta Cuimhneacháin Cogaidh na hÉireann) is an Irish war memorial in Islandbridge, Dublin, dedicated "to the memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who gave their lives in the Great ...
, Dublin, Ireland as well as by Sheehan in his verse
''A Tribute and a Claim''.
Making way
![Sinn Féin election poster - 1918](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Sinn_F%C3%A9in_election_poster_-_1918.jpg)
Continuing to pursue Irish interests in parliament, he vehemently condemned British mishandling of Irish affairs, during the April
Conscription Crisis threatening in a dramatic
anti-conscription speech in the Commons "to fight you if you enforce conscription on us".
Sheehan later expressed disillusionment at Britain's and the Irish Party's failure to agree on All-Ireland Home Rule. The AFIL members, seeing their political concepts for an All-Ireland settlement displaced by the path of militant physical-force, recognised the futility of contesting the December
1918 general elections. William O’Brien had been co-operating since 1910 with, and acting as spokesman in parliament for
Arthur Griffith
Arthur Joseph Griffith ( ga, Art Seosamh Ó Gríobhtha; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that prod ...
's moderate
Sinn Féin movement, so that as Sheehan confirmed:
:''at the general election O’Brien and all the other members of the Independent Nationalist group the present writer included, withdrew from the contest and signed a manifesto calling upon their followers to support the new movement. This appeal of ours met with enthusiastic response, Sinn Féin candidates being elected for our constituencies in every instance''.
Terence MacSwiney
Terence James MacSwiney (; ga, Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne; 28 March 1879 – 25 October 1920) was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He ...
followed Sheehan as MP for mid-Cork. In the changed political climate strongly opposed to Sheehan's earlier army service and recruiting, and faced with intimidation,
he and his family left their Cork city home and moved to England.
Labour allegiance
During the Commons debate in October 1918 on the ''Irish Land (Provision for Soldiers) Bill'', in the course of a lengthy speech Sheehan said:
:''... even although it may only benefit 3,000 or 4,000 of those Irish soldiers who have patriotically fought for their country and for the liberties of the world ... I want this measure to become law and to become operative .....''.
With an election demand of "Land for fighters" aimed at returned ex-servicemen, Sheehan contested in December the
United Kingdom general election
This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland ...
as adopted
Labour Party candidate for the
Limehouse division of
Stepney
Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...
in London's
East End and polled 2,470 votes second to the returned
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
, over a million demobilised servicemen still in Europe were unfortunately unable to vote. His demand was vindicated by the government's subsequent "Land for Soldiers" small holdings and cottage scheme announced in January. It became the ''
Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act, 1919'' which provided thousands of cottages for Irish ex-servicemen and their dependents. His engagement with Labour paved the way for his successor in this constituency, the later Labour Prime Minister
Clement Attlee.
From 1920 he eked out a living in journalism, in 1921 published his authoritative book, ''Ireland since Parnell'', covering the period
Parnell to
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
(book may be read online or downloaded free under th
Project Gutenbergexternal link). Unable to practise at the bar due to impaired hearing (sustained in the war), made some business endeavours, for a time Literary Editor, leader writer and dramatic critic of the Sunday ''National News'', and in 1925 publisher and editor of ''The Stadium'', a daily newspaper for sportsmen.
New beginnings
After earlier intimidations ceased to be an impediment, he returned to
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
in 1926 (his ailing wife died soon afterwards). He was managing editor of the ''Irish Press and Publicity Services'' and from 1928 co-publisher and editor of the ''South Dublin Chronicle'', a weekly newspaper (3 Jan 1925 – 13 July 1929) covering township and district news. In July 1929 the paper was re-titled the ''Dublin Chronicle'' (20 July 1929 – 1 Aug 1931) by a new directorate, with Sheehan as managing director and editor. Its editorial objectives were:
:''To pursue a policy of fearless independence. Remove all barriers of distrust that separate North and South on the question of National Unity. Land and Labour as the most important factors of Irish life. Putting deep sea fisheries on an economic basis. Social issues, the grave evil of the slums – the need to speed up housing of the impoverished masses''.
Labour "Chronicle"
In a series of six front pages articles in the ''Dublin Chronicle'' under his name during 1929, Sheehan exposed and highlighted with harrowing descriptions the lives of the slum poor:
:''The Frightful Slums of Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown.
The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...
– Avoca Square the Gateway to hell, its horrors (14 Sept.)''
''The Council as Slum Owners – The Scandal of Crofton Parade, consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
takes its toll (28 Sept.)''
''Housing in Bray – An Appalling Report- Would not pass as cattle stables (9 Nov.)''
Interviews followed with
Lord Longford
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...
and
General Richard Mulcahy, Minister for Local Government, on means to house the great numbers of poor people. On a wider range of important issues, he admonished the
Irish Labour Party
The Labour Party ( ga, Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, literally "Party of the Working People") is a centre-left and social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. Founded on 28 May 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, ...
(ILP) for neither having an active agricultural policy nor a fighting programme. He rigorously demanded national de-rating for farmers and objected to the County Council "manager system", proposing instead the establishment of separate independent coastal Boroughs north and south of Dublin. Sheehan repeatedly stressed the need for the housing of labourers and unskilled worker and the abolition of slums.
Sheehan condemned Republicans for two militant articles they published in ''
An Phoblacht
''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; en, "The Republic") is a formerly weekly, and currently monthly newspaper published by Sinn Féin in Ireland. From early 2018 onwards, ''An Phoblacht'' has moved to a magazine format while remaining an ...
'' criticising Irish ex-servicemen of the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
"that they fought for England ... and so forth". He countered:
Nothing of the kind! They fought for liberty, they fought for the freedom of humanity, and against the spirit of Prussianism, which if it had prevailed would put the whole world under the sway of an atrocious tyranny. ...... The thing is too absurd and ridiculous for words, yet it is those puerile arguments that are being trotted out again and again by those who never spared the art of lying and wilful perversion when dealing with Irishmen of the Great War.
Controversial themes continued to be highlighted during 1930 in the ''Dublin Chronicle'', particularly when calling for freedom of speech after the "disgraceful breaking up" of the new Labour Party's inaugural meeting on 8 April in the
Mansion House by organised gangs of
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
and
Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell ( ga, Peadar Ó Domhnaill; 22 February 1893 – 13 May 1986) was one of the foremost radicals of 20th-century Ireland. O'Donnell became prominent as an Irish republican, socialist activist, politician and writer.
Early life
Pea ...
followers shouting "
Up de Valera" and "
Up Devlin".
Parting hurrah
Leading up to 29 September 1930,
Dublin County Council
Dublin County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a local authority for the administrative county of County Dublin in Ireland.
History
The county council was established by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Its headquart ...
and Borough elections and the August nomination of eight official Labour candidates, Sheehan held town hall meetings from
Bray to
Balbriggan, emphasising:
When he consented to become a candidate in that election, he did so on account of one thing only – the betterment of his fellowmen, and the progress and advancement of all classes. ....... He had done that all his life .... such record as he possessed was one that had been always associated with Labour.
The ''Dublin Chronicle'' gave broad promotional support to Labour prior to the election, unlike the very reserved announcement of the election in the official ILP's ''Irishman''. But it was not to be. Only the three previous Labour councillors were re-elected. Sheehan finished mid-field in the list of candidates, his housing campaign hijacked by the larger party rivals Fianna Fáil and
Cumann na nGaedheal
Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party.
Origins
In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...
.
The election epitomised the dilemma of the Labour Party. In contrast to Sheehan's policy of basic social change and political inclusiveness, the ILP confused voters with a mixed message. The party's new March constitution abandoned its working class character and diluted its objectives, in its desire and in order to broaden the class basis of the new party to appeal to white-collar professionals. In the long term it also failed due to lack of branch organisation (Dublin having only one branch) so that in the following 1932 general election its number of
Dáil seats sank to an all-time low of 7, from 13 in September 1927 (and 22 in 1922).
Service – not self
In January 1931 the ''Dublin Chronicle'' promoted a new ''Irish Industries Purchasing League'' with a campaign advocating the need to ''Buy Irish Goods'', which was welcomed and supported by Irish manufacturers and retail outlets alike. Sheehan relentlessly pursued the unresoved questions of slums and housing. He then called for the early selection of suitable candidates to stand for Labour at the next (1932) general election. Publication of the ''Chronicle'' ended in August 1931 brought on by the world economic
Great Depression.
From the 1930s, unable to practise in court due to impaired hearing from the war, as advocate Sheehan provided legal advice and assistance to former constituents, to help them defend against claims on their right to ''security of tenure'' and ownership entitlements of their lands, granted under earlier legislation. Also helped unemployed Irish ex-servicemen of the Great War, many sons of families he once housed and later recruited, supported Old Comrades Associations (O.C.A's) providing lines of communication and information north and south of the
Free State border, editing the Northern and Southern Ireland edition of their central council's Annual Journal, its motto ''"Service – not self"''. In 1945, reporting on its work he wrote:
''It has been beset by many difficulties, has had to overcome prejudice and to surmount numerous other obstacles, yet its work of helping the Irish ex-serviceman and his dependants has been carried on with unwearied effort and considerable success''.
Sheehan tried unsuccessfully to regain his Cork seat in the early 1940s when
Paddy McAuliffe was selected to run for Labour in the 1943
general election for the
North Cork constituency. Pressed by former political friends Sheehan then proposed to General
Richard Mulcahy
Richard James Mulcahy (10 May 1886 – 16 December 1971) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and army general who served as Minister for Education from 1948 to 1951 and 1954 to 1957, Minister for the Gaeltacht from June 1956 to October 1956, ...
that he stand as candidate for
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil ...
in the
Cork South-East constituency (which included part of his old Mid-Cork constituency and other areas where ex-servicemen lived), but his offer was declined.
Personal background
On 6 February 1894, he married
Mary Pauline O'Connor, daughter of Martin O'Connor, Bridge Street,
Tralee
Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...
,
County Kerry;
they had five sons (and five daughters, the youngest Mona b. 1912 (Ms Rutland-Barsby) died 24 Sep 2008):
*
Daniel Joseph Sheehan (2nd Lt
Royal Flying Corps) – killed May 1917 on active service during World War I (1894–1917).
He is buried in the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...
's
Cabaret Rouge Cemetery, France; Grave no. N16.
*
Martin Joseph Sheehan (2nd Lt
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
) – killed October 1918 on active service during World War I (1896–1918).
He is buried in the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...
's
Anneux World War I Cemetery, France; Grave no. H21.
*
Michael Joseph Sheehan (
Brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...
,
OBE,
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
,
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
,
Burma Campaign World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
) (1899–1975)
* Patrick A. Sheehan (later known as
Pádraig A. Ó Síocháin SC), (
Honorable Society of King's Inns) (1905–1995)
* John F. Sheehan (
Surgeon, Lt-
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...
,
Medical Corps
A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians.
List of medical corps
The following organizations are examples of medica ...
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
,
Burma Campaign World War II), (later
Harley Street surgeon) (1909–1985)
*
Sgt Robert O'Connor (
Leinster Regiment
The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foot ...
), (in-law), killed at
Passchendaele during World War I (1880–1917)
(All family members settled in England, except
P. A. Ó Síocháin, a staunch nationalist).
Sheehan died on 28 November 1948, aged 75, while visiting his daughter Mona in Queen Anne St., London, and was buried with his wife at the
Glasnevin National Cemetery,
Dublin.
Sources and references
Notes
Works
* Writing: ''Ireland since Parnell'' (1921)
* Speeches (Commons)
* Poems
* Articles
*
Works in ''Wikisource''
References
*
O'Brien, William: ''An Olive Branch in Ireland'' pp. 388–392, (1910)
University College Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one ...
, Library
* O'Brien, Joseph: ''William O'Brien and the course of Irish politics'' pp. 166–7, 170, 172, 179, 192, 194, 198, 204, University of California Press (1976),
*
Ó Síocháin, P. A. S.C.: ''Ireland journey to freedom'' (1990), Foilsiúcháin Éireann (1990)
* Denman, Terence: ''Ireland's unknown soldiers'', Irish Academic Press (1992)
* Lane, Pádraig G., ''
The Land and Labour Association 1894–1914'', Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Vol.98, pp. 90–106 (1993)
Cork City Council Library* Maume, Patrick: ''The Long Gestation,'' ''Irish Nationalist Life 1891–1918'' pp. 70–72, 74, 81, 76, 95, 99, 100, 101, 104, 105, 107, 127, 152–3, 160, 172, 243,
Gill & Macmillan (1999)
* Maume, Patrick in: McGuire, James and Quinn, James (eds): ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' From the Earliest Times to the Year 2002;
Royal Irish Academy Vol. 7, pp. 875–78; Cambridge University Press (2009)
* Galvin, Michael M.: ''Kilmurry 1906-1910; People and Politics'' The Year of Two Elections 1910, D.D. Sheehan Triumphant, pp. 74–104, Kilmurry Archaeological and Historical Society, Carrig Print (2011)
* O’Donovan, John: ''Class, Conflict, and the United Irish League in Cork, 1900-1903'' in SAOTHAR 37 pp. 19–29, Journal of the Irish Labour History Society, D. D. Sheehan pp. 20–22, (2012)
* Dillon, John: ''DD Sheehan BL MP, His Life and Times'', Foilsiúcháin Éireann Nua (2013)
* O'Donovan, John: ''Daniel Desmond (D. D.) Sheehan and the Rural Labour Question in Cork (1894-1910)'' Ch.13 pp. 220–237 in
Casey, Brian (Ed.) ''Defying the Law of the Land: Agrarian Radicals in Irish History'', History Press (2013)
*
Bunbury, Turtle: ''The Glorious Madness, Tales of The Irish and The Great War'';
Captain D D Sheehan, MP for Mid-Cork, pp. 61–73 Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 12 (2014)
External links
D. D. Sheehan 1873–1948 and the rural labour question in Cork 1894–1910by O'Donovan, John: Academia Publication (2012)
*
Orderpage of ManyBooks.net for hardcopy of "Ireland Since Parnell"
*
*
Royal Munster Fusiliers Association/ Homepage of the Royal Munster Fusilier's Association
Bandon War Memorial, Ireland dedicated to soldiers in World War 1/ Homepage of the Bandon War Memorial Committee
*
ttps://1914-1918.europeana.eu/en/contributions/3840 Sheehan O'Connor family, seven served on the Western Front*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Daniel
1873 births
1948 deaths
All-for-Ireland League MPs
Alumni of King's Inns
Alumni of University College Cork
British Army personnel of World War I
Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery
Independent Nationalist MPs
Irish Parliamentary Party MPs
Irish barristers
Irish journalists
Irish land reform activists
Irish newspaper editors
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish people of World War I
Irish soldiers in the British Army
Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cork constituencies (1801–1922)
People from Kanturk
Politicians from County Cork
Royal Munster Fusiliers officers
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UK MPs 1906–1910
UK MPs 1910
UK MPs 1910–1918